The fallout from the much-hyped music festival in the Bahamas continues.
Fyre Festival founders Ja Rule, Billy McFarland and Fyre Media are the subjects of a $100-million lawsuit filed Sunday in California by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, Variety reports.
The federal class action complaint claims the festival was “nothing more than a get-rich-quick scam from the very beginning.”
READ MORE: Concertgoers arrive in Bahamas for Fyre Festival, find out it was cancelled at last minute
Geragos has previously represented Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and Winona Ryder.
The suit seeks damages of at least $100 million on behalf of Daniel Jung and other attendees. The suit anticipates “more than 150 plaintiffs.”
According to the suit, Fyre Fest’s lack of “adequate food, water, shelter and medical care” contributed to a dangerous situation where attendees were “stranded on the remote island without basic provisions.”
It states that the situation “was closer to The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies than Coachella.”
“Attendees’ efforts to escape the unfolding disaster were hamstrung by their reliance upon Defendants for transportation, as well as by the fact that Defendants promoted the festival as a ‘cashless’ event — Defendants instructed attendees to upload funds to a wristband for use at the festival rather than bringing any cash,” reads the suit according to Billboard. “As such, Attendees were unable to purchase basic transportation on local taxis or buses, which accept only cash. As a result of Defendants’ roadblocks to escape, at least one attendee suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness after being locked inside a nearby building with other concertgoers waiting to be airlifted from the island.”
READ MORE: ‘Dark Overlord’ hacker releases new season of ‘Orange Is The New Black’
In a statement released on Sunday by Geragos, the lawyer claimed that Fyre organizers “need to step up and make this right but unfortunately, the opposite has occurred.”
The Wrap reports that the suit disputes the festival’s claim of the event taking place on a private island previously owned by Pablo Escobar.
The suit also claims that the island isn’t private, and points out that there’s a “Sandals” resort down the road from the festival grounds.
READ MORE: Colombians outraged after Wiz Khalifa visits drug lord Pablo Escobar’s grave
The suit also alleges that Ja Rule and McFarland began “personally reaching out to performers and celebrities in advance of the festival and warned them not to attend — acknowledging the fact that the festival was outrageously under-equipped and potentially dangerous for anyone in attendance.
Festival organizers are accused in the suit of breach of contract, fraud, breach of covenant of good faith and negligent misrepresentation.
In a statement Friday, Ja Rule said the event was “NOT A SCAM,” and that “I truly apologize as this is NOT MY FAULT.”
READ MORE: IRS raids offices of preacher Benny Hinn
On Sunday, Ja Rule took to Twitter again to issue an update on the situation.
“Relieved to share that all guest are safe, and have been sent the form to apply for a refund,” he wrote.
The Fyre Festival Twitter account added, “We’re heartbroken that we let down all the guests who put their faith in us. To our guests and staff — thank you again for your all patience as we navigate our next steps. We owe you an apology.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, McFarland announced make-up dates for Fyre Fest for May 2018, and said that anyone who signed up for the event would be able to attend free of charge.
“Today is definitely the toughest day of my life,” McFarland said.
READ MORE: ‘Blurred Lines’ lawsuit argues that a ‘groove’ can’t be copyrighted
Ja Rule and McFarland released a statement to Billboard on April 28, promising full refunds and free VIP passes for next year’s event to those impacted.
The festival was scheduled to take place in the Bahamas this past weekend, but the luxury festival turned into chaos and was soon postponed.
The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism issued a statement saying that “tourism is our number one industry,” and that they were “extremely disappointed” in the way the festival had unfolded.
Tickets for the festival cost anywhere from US$1,000 to US$125,000 for luxury group packages to the event.
Performers were to include Blink-182, Migos, Major Lazer and Disclosure.
Social media began lighting up with reports of distressed guests on April 27.
Comments